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outdoorsAlso in this section: Epic Anguilla turtle
journey now tracked online by the
Marine Conservation Society For the first time, Internet users around the world are able to track, in
real time, the epic, trans-oceanic migration of a
critically endangered leatherback turtle from her
nesting grounds on the tiny Caribbean island of
Anguilla, thanks to a groundbreaking project headed by
the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) and the University
of Exeter in Cornwall. Malliouhana, the first ever Anguillian turtle to be fitted with a
satellite transmitter tag, is now over a month into an
incredible migration across the Atlantic, having swum
over 1,754 kilometers away from the island, at a speed
of about 45 kilometers per day, since leaving Anguilla's
waters on the 31st May. The satellite tag is programmed
to track the turtle's movements for up to three years
and her journey can be tracked anywhere in the world
online and in real time at www.seaturtle.org/tracking. "It is a great privilege to follow the migration of this huge turtle
every day on the internet as she migrates hundreds of
miles across vast and open ocean," said Peter
Richardson, MCS species policy officer who helped attach
the tag, "Normally these animals go unseen as they
cross the high seas, but with this latest technology
anyone around the world with access to the Internet can
follow this turtle's remarkable journey across one of
the loneliest places on the planet."
The tag and specially-designed harness were fitted to the two-meter-long
turtle after she nested on a beach in Anguilla on the
13th May. An international team comprised of officers
from Anguilla's Department of Fisheries and Marine
Resources, the British Virgin Islands' Conservation and
Fisheries Department and the MCS fitted the tag as part
of a wider collaborative project known as Turtles in the
UK Overseas Territories (TUKOT). TUKOT is a two-year UK
Government funded OTEP project coordinated by the Marine
Turtle Research Group at the University of Exeter in
Cornwall, in association with MCS, which works closely
with project partners in the UK Overseas Territories. During a previous project the team discovered that Anguilla's nesting
population of leatherbacks is "critically
small," with very few female leatherbacks coming to
nest on Anguilla's beaches each year. Through the
satellite-tagging project, the TUKOT team hopes to raise
local awareness about the plight of Anguilla's
leatherback turtles. Malliouhana, named by the Anguilla National Trust after the Taino Indian
name for the island, has already become popular in
Anguilla and featured strongly in local newspapers and
on the radio. "The nesting turtle populations in Anguilla and the other UK
Overseas Territories in the Caribbean are critically
small following hundreds of years of harvest," said
Dr. Brendan Godley of the University of Exeter in
Cornwall, "We are only tracking one turtle from
Anguilla at the moment, so this project is primarily an
awareness raising exercise. However, the results will
feed into an integrated conservation strategy as
Malliouhana helps us understand the huge geographical
range of these animals, and, more importantly, lets us
know which other nations share the responsibility of
protecting these endangered turtle populations away from
their nesting beaches" said Dr. Godley. The leatherback turtle is one of six endangered turtle species that can
be adopted through the MCS Adopt-a-Turtle program, which
raises vital funds to support turtle conservation in the
UK and worldwide.
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